Republican senators chase down Secret Service chief

Calls for the US Secret Service to come clean has been amplified after their director was chased down by a mob of angry Republicans.

Thomas Crooks crawls on the ground, seemingly scoping out a spot from which to shoot at Donald Trump nearly one hour before the attack. Picture: New York Post

A mob of Republican senators have chased down US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, demanding answers about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

The tense confrontation took place inside the Fiserv Forum and lasted about four minutes, as the senators followed behind Ms Cheatle, who walked away from the group without responding.

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee shared a video of the encounter on social media, where she was heard exclaiming “This was an assassination attempt” towards the Secret Service director.

“You owe the people answers! You owe president Trump answers,” she said.

Marsha Blackburn and John Barrasso chase Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, right, at the Republican National Convention. Picture: X

Senator Blackburn later released a statement saying it was appalling that the director of the Secret Service refused to answer questions and called for her to “immediately step down”.

“This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency. She can run but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she needs to immediately step down from her position.”

Senator John Barrasso, of Wyoming, also followed Ms Cheatle, and another person could be heard saying that Ms Cheatle was “stonewalling” the senators about what happened on Saturday.

The chase ended when Ms Cheatle was escorted into a separate area behind a closed door.

In the days since the shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the agency has faced accusations that it was ill-prepared as a gunman was able to take shots from an exposed rooftop some 150m away from the stage where Mr Trump was speaking.

The agency of about 7800 employees has the responsibility of protecting presidents, vice-presidents, their families and former presidents.

Since the assassination of the 35th US president, John F. Kennedy, in 1963, the Secret Service has secured all structures near significant national political events.

Ms Cheatle said on Tuesday that the Secret Service was “totally responsible” for the execution of security at the site of Saturday’s rally. “At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site,” she told CNN.

A bullet whistles past Donald Trump in Butler on Saturday. Picture: The New York Times

Speaking with ABC News, Ms Cheatle said the agency had decided not to position guards on the roof from which Thomas Crooks opened fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle because it “has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.”

Responding to calls for her resignation, Ms Cheatle’s office sent a statement that said she would not be stepping down as the ­agency’s director.

The Department of Homeland Security has announced an investigation into the failings of security and Ms Cheatle agreed to comply with a subpoena issued by house oversight committee chairman James Comer, formally demanding that she testifies publicly next week about the failures that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire eight bullets towards Mr Trump.

Joe Biden has also ordered an independent review of the Secret Service’s handling of the assassination attempt.

It has emerged that local police exchanged photos of Crooks and alerted the Secret Service after ­noticing his unusual behaviour near the venue’s entrance, but that no action was taken.

The New York Post on Wednesday published one of the photos. It shows Crooks crawling on the ground and seemingly scoping out a spot from which to shoot at Mr Trump nearly one hour before the attack. The image was taken around 5.30pm by a local police counter-sniper officer, who reported that Crooks was a suspicious person on the grounds outside the Trump rally. Around 5.45pm – 26 minutes before the shooting – the same Beaver County cop spotted Crooks a second time, now on the roof, took a second picture and called it in to the command centre.

Crooks was thought to have been on the roof of the building for up to 30 minutes before he opened fire, managing to evade police and Secret Service officers three times.

Police snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof, and a command post was alerted when he took out a rangefinder, but no action was taken. Crooks reappeared wearing a backpack as he walked to the back of the building. A further radio report was submitted by the sniper team, who did not realise Crooks was by then scaling their building.